These Older Adults Fear Going Hungry As Food Benefits Are Cut

“Since the rent started skyrocketing and food prices started spiking up, [a full month of SNAP benefits] buys far fewer groceries,” Powers says. She’s noticed that her food benefits run out halfway through the month. In the past, she often had at least a few dollars left over each month. 

Lawmakers also limited updates to the calculation that determines maximum SNAP benefits amounts, permitting cost adjustments only for inflation but not for other changes in food prices, eating habits and nutritional guidelines. Advocates say this will effectively result in a loss of purchasing power over time.

Reevaluating these baselines “helps SNAP benefits better keep pace with rising food prices and evolving dietary guidelines,” wrote Bill Sweeney, AARP’s senior vice president of government affairs, in a May 13 letter to House Agriculture Committee leaders.

Local organizations brace for increased demand

​​Troy Brunet, 60 ​

San Francisco, California

During his lifetime, Troy Brunet has experienced homelessness and has sometimes gone hungry. He became eligible for SNAP in 2019. Though now housed, he still relies on food assistance to eat.

Brunet has been living with HIV and AIDS for nearly 30 years and has undergone more than a dozen surgeries for a condition that affects his bones.

“I have to eat something every morning before I even take my medicine,” he says. “Otherwise, I’m absolutely sick.”

If SNAP benefits are reduced, Brunet says, he hopes state and local groups can meet the need.

Across the country, food pantries, churches and nonprofits bolster the SNAP program by serving as local touchpoints, doing essential outreach in their communities and often providing food directly.

“[At] the food pantry that I go to here, we’ve been blessed enough to get good fruits and vegetables, so it’s very helpful,” Brunet says. “But that’s not always, and every time it’s something different.”

Cuts to SNAP would likely increase pressure on organizations already under-resourced, says Josh Protas, chief advocacy and policy officer at Meals on Wheels America.

Some food banks in Brunet’s area have closed because of a lack of funding. Earlier this month, the San Francisco–Marin Food Bank shuttered 13 emergency “pop-up” pantries that opened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The food bank said in a statement that 6,500 households are on a waiting list for nutrition assistance.

“Everybody should have access to food, one way or the other,” Brunet says. “We should make that available. But it seems that we are literally ripping the food right out of people’s mouths.” ​

Funding cuts create uncertainty

​​Roberta Burton, 65 ​

Grand Junction, Colorado

Roberta Burton got her first job at age 16. “I worked all my life,” the 65-year-old says, including years on a grueling restaurant schedule of 60 hours a week.

Her plan was to work until she was 70 in order to maximize Social Security and save more for her mortgage, utility bills and medical expenses. Burton is a breast cancer survivor but continues to need regular checkups and medication to stay on top of her health.

But her plan came to an abrupt end last summer, when Burton was let go from the restaurant where she had worked for 16 years. Then the bills began piling up.

“You have to be like a mathematician to figure it out,” she says. “How can I string these bills out long enough to be able to take care of all of those? Exactly which one am I going to pay this month, and which one am I going to keep till next month?”

She started calling local food banks to see if she could supplement her groceries with donations. One of the workers told her about SNAP, and after applying, she was approved for $291 a month. Though she would not be subject to the work requirements outlined in the bills, Burton said she is keeping an eye out for jobs in case SNAP is affected by funding cuts.

“It’s not that easy when you’re this age,” she says. “Who’s going to make me a general manager when I’m 65, because they’re thinking, How long is she going to stay?”

Work requirements strain caregivers

​Arycelis Marin, 61​

San Antonio, Texas

Older caregivers of other adults or children might find it especially challenging to meet the proposed work requirements. For Arycelis Marin, who works as a home care provider while also raising six grandchildren, those work requirements might mean she’s forced to delay retirement.

Like Marin, more than a million grandparents serve as primary caretakers of children in their homes, according to 2021 census data.

Marin receives about $600 a month for her household. Currently, most nondisabled adults ages 18 to 59 without dependents must work or volunteer an average of 20 hours or more to receive SNAP for more than three months in three years, unless qualifying for an exemption. The recent changes expand this requirement to people up to age 64, providing some exemptions, including for those with dependents under the age of 14.

Though she has a job, Marin says she was hoping to retire at the end of this year.

“But the way things look, I don’t know,” she says. Any reductions or loss to her SNAP benefits, she adds, could affect her ability to maintain her job and care for the children who depend on her.

“I can’t be running around to food banks, because I have to work,” she says.

Older adults who find themselves required to work to continue receiving SNAP benefits may have difficulty getting jobs. Almost two-thirds of workers 50 and older saw or experienced age discrimination in the workplace, and more than 90 percent believe it’s a common challenge, according to AARP research.

“This is the time to connect more eligible older adults to nutrition assistance,” says AARP’s Ryan, “not make it harder for those eligible to access the food assistance they need to support their health.”